"Water is Life" Art Contest – Scholarship Opportunity

The nonprofit Freshwater Society of Minnesota, in conjunction with the South Central Service Cooperative and Southeast Service Cooperative, is coordinating an art contest for high school students finding meaningful and artistic ways to respond to the theme, Water is Life. The theme of the contest is derived from an oil painting of the same name, painted by the late Les Kouba, renowned wildlife artist, to reflect the importance of freshwater on the natural world.

The Freshwater Society was formed in 1968 and has been in the vanguard of promoting the scientific understanding of and responsible environmental policy for water. It has also maintained an extensive art collection and promoted art to both celebrate the beauty of water, lament its environmental degradation, and described its impact on the human condition on the natural world.

The Society is offering three scholarships for a total of $3,000 to students who, either through three-dimensional art form (sculpture), photography, or flat surface painting, find a way to express the theme, “Water is Life.” Each high school in the service cooperative areas will identify the art work to be judged at a regional location in April 2005. Students in the SCSC area will take their entries to the Carnegie Art Center in Mankato for judging and display. Six finalists from SCSC and six finalists from SSC will participate in the announcement of the three scholarships at a gala reception in May at the Gray Freshwater Institute on the shores of Lake Minnetonka.

For more information on the contest, please contact your high school art department or Joyce Swenson at SCSC: email jswenson@mnscsc.org, or phone: 507-389-2461.